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Some parts of Oregon may start to relax social distancing guidelines as soon as May 15, under a new plan to gradually restart public life after a hiatus meant to slow the transmission of the new coronavirus.

State officials say they are working to hire more people to trace the spread of COVID-19 and boost testing for the virus.

They claim they have prevented 70,000 infections in the state with strict measures, including a March 23 order from Gov. Kate Brown that required most Oregonians to stay home and avoid most public activities.

"We can't stand still," Brown told reporters Friday. "And so I think it's really important that we take gradual and incremental steps forward to protect the health and safety of Oregonians."

However, Brown didn't provide a timeline, other than to say that some rural areas where cases are very low could start the process of reopening as soon as mid-May, as long as they meet certain criteria set by the state.

Brown said Friday that some counties have submitted reopening materials to her office, but she could not comment on whether those counties had met the necessary criteria for reopening, which include approval from local hospital and public health officials.

Asked whether a resurgence of infections could prompt the state to go back to stricter measures, state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said that infections are expected to go up since people will be in more contact with one another.

Social Distancing guidelines still in place

The state is still recommending that people remain six feet apart from those outside their immediate household, wear face coverings in public to slow the spread and refrain from traveling to other places in the state.

The state won't eliminate the spread of COVID-19, since people can have the virus before they are symptomatic, but officials want to slow it as much as possible, said Sidelinger.

Brown said the state has three goals when it comes to testing:

It should be available for any Oregonian showing symptoms of the virus;

It should be available to vulnerable people, including prisoners, people living in long-term care facilities and in farm worker housing;

And the state needs ongoing, widespread and randomized testing.

Gov. Kate Brown speaks at a news conference to announce a four-week ban on eat-in dining at bars and restaurants throughout the state Monday, March 16, 2020, in Portland.(Photo: GILLIAN FLACCUS / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

To meet that third goal, the state is working with Oregon Health and Science University to randomly test 100,000 Oregonians for the virus to understand where it might be "hiding," Brown said. The study is voluntary, but the governor asked that if Oregonians "heed the call" if they are asked to participate.

State-wide COVID-19 testing critical to reopening

COVID-19 is an especially difficult disease to contain because people can have it and not have any symptoms.

That means seemingly healthy people could be going about their business and unknowingly transmit it to people who then do get sick.

That is why testing is critical: it can identify people who may not seem like they have the virus to let them know to avoid contact with others to prevent spreading it, and to warn others who have been in contact with them.

But states across the country are facing a dearth of testing.

Sidelinger said that testing has been steadily increasing, and now the state has the ability to conduct about 2,000 tests per day.

However, according to an analysis by Harvard researchers and STAT, a health care news site, earlier this week, found that as of April 22, Oregon needed an additional 1,400 tests per day in order to safely scale back stay-at-home orders.

The state wants to hire 600 contract tracers. But the state's health agency hasn't hired any of those people yet.

Marion County is likely some time away from being able to resume life as normal.